Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Progress Monitoring-Baselines and Beyond: A Frenzied SLP Linky

Labor Day brings the unofficial close to the summer season and with it an end to the lazy, hazy days of relaxation. Don't dismay, though, because with the return to schedules and school come the Frenzied SLP posts chock full of ideas, materials, and suggestions for the busy SLP. Thank you Sparklle SLP, Lisette Edgar, and Kelly Woodford-Hungaski for coordinating our first frenzied linky!

To start things off, we thought we would share how we do progress monitoring, establishing baselines and more. I understand there are a plethora of products available for progress monitoring, however, I have streamlined my process. I purchased MANY products for monitoring progress and what I found was that, while, they were fantastic products, they weren't aligned with the goals I had established for my students. I created a couple of my own progress monitoring tools, but still, I didn't feel I was capturing the information I needed (You can access my elementary and middle school progress monitoring tools for free). Additionally, trying to find the extra time to administer the progress monitoring tool added needless stress to an already stressful day.

I take detailed data for every session. I write an anecdotal and document percentage accuracy for every objective. What I realized was my documentation was, in fact, all I needed for progress monitoring that specifically targets my students goals and objectives. When it is time for an annual review or progress reports I collate all the data for a specific time span and find the median percentage accuracy. Using the median rather than mean eliminates the outliers. I also have a baseline if I need to continue addressing a certain area. This streamlined approach has saved me considerable time and, I believe, paints the most accurate picture of a student's progress as it relates to their individual goals.

Sample data collection sheet

You can access my data collection sheet here. Everyone does things differently, however, I have found that keeping accurate and current data is the best method for me to assess progress without having to pull out an additional tool or schedule time for dedicated progress monitoring.

How do you monitor progress? The Frenzied SLPs are eager to hear your thoughts and/or check out your methods. Link up with us!!

Totally agreed on the fancy progress monitoring, although I really wanted to master the organization of using them, I just found that they didn't meet my individual goals and I needed to change one or the other!